An Avengers Christmas Countdown
by scrittore.9
Summary: Just what it says on the tin!
1. 5-Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas

"_It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas_."

Jane had been humming some strange Midgardian tune all day, and it was driving Thor up the wall. (Tony had taught him that expression last week, and he found he enjoyed it immensely. Mortals were so odd.)

Jane had attempted, several times, to explain the Midgardian tradition of Christmas to him, and Thor found that he could not quite understand it.

"_Everywhere you go, take a look in the five and ten_,"

"A boy child was born in a barn, bound, and bedded in a feed trough?" He asked, bewildered. On Asgard, children were bound after birth, but they were most assuredly not placed in feed troughs.

"Yes," Jane sighed, stirring her batch of cookies.

"And then wise kings and herders of sheep came to see this infant?"

"Exactly," Darcy chimed in.

"If these kings were so wise, why did they see fit to visit a boy child not yet old enough to wear clothes?"

"Never made much sense to me, either," Darcy assured him, passing him a Hershey's kiss. Thor unwrapped the chocolate slowly.

"But . . ."

"Just roll with it, dude," Darcy advised, and Thor, taking one look at Jane, decided to heed the lady's words of wisdom.

"_Glistening once again, candy canes and silver lanes aglow_"

_Later_

"So a large, enigmatic elder attired in red enters one's residence via the chimney?"

"Yes, Thor," Jane sighed, shivering slightly against the wind. She was taking Thor on an excursion she termed 'window shopping.'

"Is it wise to allow one so unknown to enter one's dwelling?"

"It's Santa Clause, Thor."

"And then you say that this Saint of Clauses leaves presents?"

"Yep." Jane popped the p, like Darcy did sometimes, and Thor knew she was annoyed.

"Midgardian customs are so odd," he pronounced. "But I should like to understand them more."

"Look, Thor, no one understands our customs fully. Not even us."

"Then . . ."

"It's in your heart, Thor. In our hearts we want to believe in what we did as children, that there is a kind old man who wants to give us presents, that for one day or one season humanity can put aside their differences and petty squabbles and be _good_."

Thor stopped, pulling Jane at his side. She tilted her face up, curious.

"There is good in humanity," he insisted. "I saw it- I see it, in you, in Tony and Clint and Bruce and Natasha and so many others. That is why I fight with my brothers in arms the Avengers, that is why I come back. It should not take a season to realize such a thing."

"_But the prettiest sight you'll see is the holly that will be on your own front door_."

* * *

Author's note: I've always wanted to write one of these :)


	2. 4- White Christmas

"I'm dreaming of a white Christmas!"

Darcy Lewis could not carry a tune to save her life. This, of course, did not dissuade her from trying, as Bruce Banner could attest to.

"Just like the ones I used to know!"

Bruce Banner could sing. He was just shy about it. Darcy loved when he sang, though, so he did on occasion. And this was one of them.

"Where the tree tops glisten,"

"And children listen,

"To hear sleigh bells in the snow." They sang together. Darcy was hanging upside down off one of Bruce's lab chairs and Bruce was attempting to work, but the Christmas spirit (a.k.a. Darcy) was a little distracting, even to the ever focused Dr. Banner.

"It hasn't snowed yet," Darcy sighed. "Why hasn't it snowed yet?"

"Hmm," Bruce hummed, peering into a microscope at something microscopic.

"Bruce!"

"What?"

"Ahh, Science has run away with my boyfriend again."

"Sorry."

"Yeah, yeah."

"I miss the snow too," Bruce told her, pulling Darcy gently from the chair so that she was right side up. "Don't worry. It will come soon." They sat, snuggled up on the couch for a long while.

"_I'm dreaming of a white Christmas, with every Christmas card I write_"

Suddenly Darcy shot off the couch and tripped headlong for the windows. There were several ominous sounding crashes, and Bruce winced as he followed her, albeit more carefully.

"Snow!" she rejoiced. "Bruce, it's snowing!" She seized his hand, towing him to the roof, heedless of the fact that neither of them had coats. "Isn't it wonderful?" she exclaimed, twirling happily. Soft flakes of snow clung to her dark hair and cold colored her cheeks. Bruce thought he had never dreamed of being this happy.

"It is," he agreed, catching her mid twirl and pulling her close.

"_May your days be merry and bright, and may all your Christmases be white_."

* * *

Author's Note: Haha, party foul. Right, so yesterday I was so very excited to post the first chapter that I completely forgot the fact that the story was a countdown. My bad. So yesterday's was 5. This is 4.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed, and for my first ever plea for audience input, I am asking what I should do about Steve. I mean, everyone else has a significant other with whom to be sappy, but I have not yet run across any OC that could become someone for Steve, and that blonde waitress from the movie who they're so setting him up with should have been shot in the Chitauri invasion. Ideas are welcome at this junction.


	3. 3- The Christmas Song

"_Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nipping at your nose._"

"Tony," Pepper called. "Tony?"

There was a pause, and then "Tony if you are in your lab so help me god . . ."

"Yes, Pepper dear?" Tony materialized from the general direction of the kitchen, and Pepper seized his arm and towed him toward the living room.

"You're helping me decorate the tree today, remember?"

"Oh!" Tony smacked his forehead. "Must have forgotten. Look, cookies!"

But Pepper didn't let go.

"Tony, you promised."

The tree was beautiful plain, as anything brought into Stark Tower was bound to be, but Tony barely looked at it.

"Pepper," he whispered desperately. She stopped, raising an eyebrow at him, and he waved a finger, beckoning her closer. She rolled her eyes, but leaned in so that he could whisper in her ear. "Pepper, I've never decorated a Christmas tree before."

Pepper stared at Tony. Tony stared desperately back.

"Well," Pepper Potts declared, "Now is a perfect time to learn."

"_Yuletide carols being sung by a choir and folks dressed up like Eskimos. Everybody knows some turkey and some mistletoe will help to make your spirit bright._"

Twenty minutes later, Tony stood tangled in tree lights. Pepper looked for all the world as though she was trying not to fall over laughing. Steve poked his head in briefly.

"Tony . . . How on earth did you manage to do that?" At that, both Steve and Pepper lost it, mostly at the desperate look on Tony's face.

"I don't know! Pepper said to untangle the lights and then," his eyes widened. "Pepper! The tree's trying to eat me! Pepper!" He shuffled forward, tightening the lights strung around his legs, and toppled over. A muffled 'oww' only increased the sounds of mirth.

Finally, albeit breathlessly, Steve pulled Tony up, and together, they began untangling him.

"Okay, Tony," Pepper said slowly, "The lights get wrapped around the tree this time."

"Got it," Tony groused. A chair was retrieved, and Pepper began expertly draping the lights around the tree.

"Don't worry," Steve told him, feeding lights through his hands to Pepper, "You'll be better at hanging the ornaments."

"_Tiny tots with their eyes all aglow will find it hard to sleep tonight_."

"Hey, I am good at this!" Tony exclaimed, stepping back from the delicate ball, leaving it swaying on the tree. Obscurely, Pepper hovered in the background 'just in case'. Steve had bowed out earlier, claiming he was hungry. Arguably, Tony wasn't good at hanging ornaments- he had already broken two and had gotten bored and tried to see if Dummy the robot was any good at hanging ornaments. Pepper had forbidden the robot from entering the room.

"_And so I'm offering this simple phrase to kids from one to ninety-two_,"

Finally, the tree was done. Tony and Pepper stood in the middle of the living room, surrounded by empty boxes and broken strands of lights.

"Ready?" Pepper asked.

"Ready."

"JARVIS, lights please."

"Right away, Miss Potts."

The room lights went black, and Tony held his breath as slowly the tree lit up. When it reached the star at the top, his breath whooshed out.

"Pepper, it's beautiful!"

"Merry Christmas, Tony."

"_And though it's been said, many time,s many ways, Merry Christmas to you_."


	4. 2- All I Want For Christmas Is You

"_I don't want a lot for Christmas, there is just one thing I need_."

Natasha was out on a mission. A solo mission. Clint was lonely.

"_I don't care about the presents underneath the Christmas tree_."

Clint had already made seven kinds of Christmas cookies with Jane and Thor, strung up mistletoe all over the tower with Darcy, hidden all of Bruce's microscopes, confused Dummy to the point of robot tears, scared Tony by dropping through the ventilation grates unexpectedly, and helped Darcy and Pepper organize the Christmas dinner for the homeless that Stark Tower would be hosting this year.

Clint missed Natasha.

"_I just want you for my own, more than you could ever know_"

He had already run out of arrows. And targets. He sparred with Steve, but it wasn't like sparring with Natasha, and it only made him miss her more.

Just before she left, Clint had told her he loved her. Natasha would never- could never- say the words back, and Clint knew that. For Natasha, the words didn't mean everything, it was the actions, and when she kissed Clint and snuggled into his side, he knew she meant it.

Maybe it was because her marks had said it too many times before, maybe it was because at the Red Room they had trained her to say it by default. Natasha wasn't even sure, but she knew that as many times as Clint told her he loved her (and it meant the world to her) she could never call it love. She could only mean it. She shivered, perched on the roof, eyeing her target on the ground. This was Clint's specialty, this skulking on rooftops, but as much as Natasha wanted Clint here, even she had to admit this was an easy mission. Just a time consuming one.

"_Make my wish come true, all I want for Christmas is you_."

The mark went inside a building, and Natasha quietly slipped in after him. It was quick work after that, a sharp question and a purred response, a silenced gunshot, and the flash of red hair as Natasha disappeared.

"Mark eliminated," she murmured into her transmitter. "Agent Romanoff requesting Quinjet to return to base."

"Request granted," a SHIELD comms agent replied. There was an odd crackling, the sounds of protest, and then Nick Fury's voice reached Natasha's ears.

"Romanoff, get the hell back here."

"Yes, sir!" Natasha rapped smartly.

"Don't be a smart ass, Romanoff."

And then Fury was gone. Natasha thought she had never been so happy to carry out a direct order in her life.

"Clint! Don't swing over the turkey!" Pepper scolded, watching warily as Clint dangled from the support beams directly over the turkeys she and Darcy were cooking with Clint's supposed help.

"Yes mother," Clint muttered, but dropped obligingly to the floor. He caught Darcy's hand as she began to shake cumin on the turkey. "Not that one," he told her for the eighth time.

"Darcy," Pepper said gently.

"Darcy, you have many talents, and cooking is not one of them. Go find Bruce under some mistletoe."

"Thank you, Clint," Pepper growled before turning back to Darcy. "Please? I'll call you when we're ready for set up. You could go check on the tables."

Darcy, not offended in the slightest, considered. "Nah," she decided, "I like Clint's suggestion." She bounced out of the kitchen, calling, "JARVIS, is Bruce in his lab?"

"Clint," Pepper sighed.

"I know, I have a way with words."

"You certainly do. Now make the stuffing."

Clint saluted, caught the spatula Pepper threw at his head, and began the stuffing.

The Quinjet was waiting in the airfield where Natasha had left it, and she grinned to see it. Throwing her go bag on one of the benches in the cargo bay, she entered the coordinates to SHIELD's base into the navigation system and sighed as she gently lifted the jet into the air. With the trip and debriefing, she hoped to be back in time. Dreaming of Clint's embrace, she fell asleep.

"_I just want you for my own, more than you could ever know_."

Pepper and Darcy managed to rope all the Avengers into helping them carry the feast for the homeless to special refrigerators. Tony muttered good naturedly, Steve, Clint and Bruce had a contest to see who could balance the most, and Pepper laughed as Darcy egged them on.

And despite feeling more accepted than he had in a longer while than he cared to acknowledge, he felt the half empty spot filled only by Nat.

"_Make my wish come true all I want for Christmas is you_."


	5. 1-Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

"_Have yourself a merry little Christmas. Let your heart be light_."

Steve looked around the lobby of Stark Tower, now filled to bursting with people of all kinds attending Stark's first Christmas Eve dinner for the homeless. At the door, Tony and Pepper welcomed people into the room, and Thor, Jane, Bruce and Darcy lurked behind the food tables watchfully. Clint lingered by the tree, helping children hang ornaments on higher branches. A tug at his sleeve brought his attention back to his current task of playing Santa Clause (Tony and Clint's idea, Darcy's begging:

"You're the oldest," Tony had pointed out. "Therefore you get to practice wearing a white beard first.").

"Santa, can I have a toy please?" The little girl stared up at him, large brown eyes excited.

"Of course, sweetheart. Would you like to pick one out?" Steve shrugged the sack from his shoulder and set it on the ground.

"Oh no," she shook her head. "It's for my little brother. He's too shy to come over, but he says that Santa always knows best." She nodded toward an even smaller boy, clinging to his mother's legs. Steve winked in his direction, then made a show of picking a toy. He handed it to the girl, who ran back to her brother. Eager hands tore at the paper, and a child's gasp was clearly audible.

"Thank you, Santy Clause," the boy whispered, grinning.

Steve nodded, his own face split into a smile, and his spirit feeling lighter than it had in a long while.

"_Next year all our troubles will be out of sight_."

Just then, there was an exclamation as a flash of red darted through the door and all but tackled Clint.

"Tasha!"

"I told you I'd make it home for Christmas, you great dummy," she replied, slapping his head lightly.

"It wasn't you I doubted," he laughed, kissing her.

It was good to see them together. They fit so perfectly, trusted so completely. So did Jane and Thor, Tony and Pepper, Bruce and Darcy. And then there was Steve. He rarely allowed himself self-pity, and now was neither the time nor place for it, he scolded himself sharply, handing a present to another starry-eyed child. They reminded him of his own childhood during the Great Depression with only his mother to raise him. In those days, there had been no Starks to give food to the needy, just thousands and thousands of needy.

Darcy had hinted at a surprise, and when Maria Hill stepped to the front of the room and cleared her throat, drawing all eyes to her, Steve counted himself very surprised. It grew as she began to sing in a clear, strong voice that carried clear through the room.

"_Have yourself a merry little Christmas, make the yuletide gay. Next year all our troubles will be miles awa_y."

After a few songs, people began joining in, and the spirit and goodwill seemed almost tangible.

The dinner wound down as people began to leave, streaming through the doors with many thanks and blessings conferred upon Stark, who looked as though he'd rather have them all scolding him than thanking him. Natasha and Clint had disappeared hours ago to do whatever they did after missions, and Jane was falling asleep against Thor. Darcy and Pepper, as the organizers were simultaneously orchestrating the cleanup and trying to prevent the now thoroughly bored Tony from blowing things up to entertain the remaining children.

Finally, the lobby was clear, most traces of the dinner gone. Steve stood alone in the vacant room, thankful for all that he had now, and mourning all he had lost.

"_Someday soon we all will be together, if the fates allow_."

"That was very nice," a quiet voice said next to Steve's elbow, and he jumped, startled. "I didn't know Stark had it in him," she continued, raising an amused eyebrow at his shock but otherwise ignoring it.

"He is a good man." That was all of the explaining of Tony's rather complex character Steve could do, and Hill accepted that.

"Well, I'm headed home. Merry Christmas, Captain Rogers."

"Would you like me to walk you, Agent Hill?" Steve blurted reflexively, forgetting that in this modern world, women, especially secret agents like Maria Hill did not need escorts home. Natasha would have strangled him for assuming. But Hill only cocked her head. "I- I'm sorry," he stuttered. "It's just that I was going to midnight mass . . ."

"If you want. I don't live far."

Steve grinned, took Hill's arm and held the door open for her.

"Oh, and Rogers, my name's Maria."

"Steve."

"Nice to meet you, Steve."

"_Hang a shining star upon the highest bow, and have yourself a merry little Christmas now_."


	6. Christmas Day

Christmas morning with the Avengers was a sight to behold. Beginning at five in the morning, Tony burst into everyone's rooms, bouncier than a two year old with a sugar high.

"Go 'way," Steve mumbled, throwing a pillow at him.

"Stark I will murder you slowly and painfully," Natasha growled, a knife in both hands.

"Tony," Bruce sighed. "Go back to sleep."

In the end, only Darcy was on board with the whole Christmas at five idea, a little bouncier than even Tony. By six, Tony blasting Christmas carols finally had the desired result of assembling the inhabitants of Stark Tower in the kitchen, looking decidedly worse for the wear.

"Coffee," Bruce grumbled. "I really need coffee." Darcy, smiling sweetly, passed him a mug, which he buried his face in. She then did the same for Natasha and Clint. About 3 cups later, they were coherent enough to move into the living room, where gift giving commenced.

A surprising amount of presents were piled under Stark's tree, mostly from Tony and Pepper. Tony grabbed the first one, but Pepper swatted it out of his hands.

"Wait til everyone has one!" she scolded. Tony rolled his eyes but obeyed. Once a present had been found for Darcy, (one that looked suspiciously like alcohol of some sort, they all began tearing off the paper. Well, Darcy, Tony and Clint tore. Steve meticulously pulled each bit of tape off, trying to tear the paper as little as possible.

"Tear, Steve!" Tony yelled across the room.

"But . . ."

"Steve," Darcy says in a placating tone. "We don't need to save the paper. It's okay to tear it."

"I've never torn paper."

"Well, we'll have to fix that then. Grab here," Darcy handed him one edge of the package and took the other. "Go!"

They were still sitting there an hour later, admiring their various presents, which seemed to contain an abundance of alcohol and Iron Man t-shirts, and having an impromptu airsoft war when JARVIS interrupted.

"Sir,"

"JARVIS"

"There is a visitor for you, sir. Shall I send him in?"

"Sure," Tony said, returning fire at Clint and Natasha. Jane snuck up from behind and sniped him. Thor had just jumped up to shoot when the door opened, and the gun fell from his hand.

"Merry Christmas, everyone," Phil Coulson said.

* * *

No, no song. But I figured I'd finish off this story with an introduction to my next one, when I get around to it. Thank you everyone for reading and reviewing, and Merry Christmas! (Or Happy Hanukah, Kwanzaa, or whatever else you celebrate)


End file.
